I Am Patrick Swayze: A Beautiful Love Letter To The Dancing Cowboy
Because that’s what he was. He was a cowboy and a ballet dancer at heart. And he could do both of these things perfectly. And according to his wife, family, friends and colleagues who occupy the documentary dedicated to his career and life, he was a charmer too. And a sex symbol. And a fantastic brother, husband, friend.
And a wounded soul too. And he was a fighter. Yeah, he battled a lot of demons before he battled the disease called cancer. And according to his wife, he was gracious, humble and kind through it all. Until the very end. To the friends who knew and loved him, he was Buddy. To everyone else, he was just Patrick.
I really enjoyed the Adrian Buitenhuis documentary- I Am Patrick Swayze. It’s a celebration of a vivacious life, not just a mourning of a lost one. Every single one of his colleagues and fellow filmmakers that had the pleasure of working with him shared stories of great courage, laughter and tenacity when it came to Patrick and his love for acting. He fought for the roles, he prepped for the roles and enjoyed embodied the roles he played.
His wife (Lisa Niemi) also spoke about his darker days and challenges they had to face in their 34 years long marriage. Their inability to conceive a child, his alcoholism, their brief separation and the cancer battle that ultimately took his life. I was glad and frankly relieved that the documentary didn’t showed photos or video of Patrick in the last days of his cancer battle. I’m glad that the movie preserved our memories of the young, beautiful and talented Patrick. The Patrick we all loved and admired.
On a side note, I must address the wrinkle free and very juvenile face of Demi Moore. I mean come on!. The woman is in her mid-50’s and does not have one wrinkle on her face!. Her dermatologist/ plastic surgeon should get a Nobel Prize just for that. She’s obviously had some work done (it’s not all genes that’s for sure) but she’s not Freddie Kroger/Melanie Griffith/ Pricilla Priestley type of a botched face job. I was impressed as I was shocked, I must admit. But I digress.
All in all, I really enjoyed My Name Is Patrick Swayze. It’s your standard celebrity type of biography documentary, but if you’re fans of Patrick, you’ll enjoy this movie. You’ll cry your eyes, especially at the end of the 90 minutes of run-time, but you’ll love it. I highly recommend it.
